Joshua 18:11 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the lot of the tribe of Benjamin. Providence placed it next to Joseph on one side, because Benjamin was Joseph’s own younger brother, “little Benjamin” (Psalm 68:27), who needed the protection of great Joseph. Yet he had an even better protector, for “the Lord shall cover him all the day long” (Deuteronomy 33:12). On the other side, Benjamin was next to Judah, so that this tribe might later join with Judah in loyalty to David’s throne and to the temple in Jerusalem.

The exact borders and limits of this tribe are given, though we do not need to explain every detail. Judah was to the south and Joseph to the north, while Jordan was to the east and Dan to the west. The western border is said to “go around the corner of the sea southward” (Joshua 18:14), yet no part of Benjamin’s lot reached the great sea. Bishop Patrick thinks this means the border ran in a line parallel to the great sea, though some distance away. Dr. Fuller suggests that since it is called only “the sea,” not “the great sea,” it may mean the pool of Gibeon, which could be called a corner of the sea and is described as “the great waters of Gibeon” (Jeremiah 41:12).

The particular cities in Benjamin are also listed, though not all of them, only the most important. Twenty-six are named here. Jericho comes first, even though its walls had been torn down and it had been forbidden to rebuild it as a fortified city, because it could still be lived in as a village and so was not useless to the tribe. Gilgal, where Israel first camped and where Saul was later made king (1 Samuel 11:15), was also in Benjamin. It later became a deeply sinful place, for “all their wickedness is in Gilgal” (Hosea 9:15).

Beth-el was in this tribe, a very well-known place. Yet though Benjamin stayed loyal to the house of David, Beth-el seems to have been in the hands of the house of Joseph (Judges 1:23-25), and there Jeroboam set up one of his calves. Gibeon was also in Benjamin, the place where the altar stood at the beginning of Solomon’s reign (2 Chronicles 1:3). Gibeah, the shameful place where the Levite’s concubine was abused, was here too. Mizpeh, near Samuel’s Ebenezer, and Anathoth, the hometown of Jeremiah, were also in this tribe, as was the northern part of Jerusalem.

Paul was the honor of this tribe (Romans 11:1; Philippians 3:5). But we do not know where his family land was, for he looked for a better country.